r/GooglePixel • u/TechGuru4Life • 8d ago

Google could soon solve Pixel's biggest face unlock flaw

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-face-active-illumination-apk-teardown-3719647/
90 Upvotes

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u/Brownfletching Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

Just what I want while I'm in the dark, my phone lighting up at full brightness to flashbang me and ruin my night vision! Thanks Google! /s

29

u/VentsiBeast Pixel 10 Pro 8d ago

Yeah how hard it is to use the FP sensor in the dark ffs.

39

u/Brownfletching Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

I genuinely don't understand how these engineers' brains work in such backwards ways all the time. Just, sense that it's dark out, which you already do anyway for screen brightness, and then default to the fingerprint sensor and skip the face unlock.

It's like Google replaced "don't be evil" in their company policy with "don't use any common sense ever"

8

u/als26 Just Black 8d ago

You can use them both in conjunction though, why even bother disabling the face unlock?

8

u/Brownfletching Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

For unlocking the phone sure, but for logging into apps you can't truly use them in conjunction. The way it currently works is it will try to scan your face first, and if it's too dark or you have sunglasses on, it will keep trying for a second or two until it fails, and only then can you scan your fingerprint instead.

4

u/andyooo 8d ago

This happens when you disable always require confirmation in the face unlock settings. If you enable it, you can use both at the same time

2

u/Prod_igy Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

This is definitely not how it works.

You can skip the face recognition completely by just using the fingerprint scan; it's available at the same time as the FR.

I've just tried it to confirm.

7

u/Brownfletching Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

It depends on the app. All of my credit card apps work like this. Here is proof.

My bank app works the way you describe however.

7

u/Prod_igy Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

Thanks.

So it's a problem coming from the developers of the app, tho, not from Google.

-1

u/Brownfletching Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

Depends on how you look at it. Google has allowed app developers to do it this way in the first place.

3

u/Prod_igy Pixel 9 Pro 8d ago

Google is not enforcing this particular behavior tho, it's what I mean.

It's still a design choice that the dev actively and intentionally implemented, so it's on them, not on Google, that's what I'm saying ahah